Using design dimensions to develop a multi-device audio experience through workshops and prototyping

TY - GEN

T1 - Using design dimensions to develop a multi-device audio experience through workshops and prototyping

AU - Geary, David

AU - Francombe, Jon

AU - Hentschel, Kristian

AU - Murphy, Damian

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank all participants from B&O who took part in the workshops and provided feedback on the final experience. This work is supported in part by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) XR Stories Creative Industries Cluster project, grant no. AH/S002839/1, and in part by a University of York funded PhD studentship, with additional support from BBC Research & Development. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 ACM.

PY - 2023/10/11

Y1 - 2023/10/11

N2 - Designing audio experiences for heterogeneous arrays of multiple devices is challenging, and researchers have tried to identify useful design practices. A set of design dimensions have been proposed, providing researchers and creative practitioners with a framework for understanding the different design considerations for multi-device audio; however, they have yet to be used for scoping and developing a new experience. This work investigates the utility of the design dimensions for exploring and prototyping new multi-device audio experiences. Three workshops were conducted with audio professionals to see how the design dimensions could be used to form new ideas. Using the resulting ideas, a multi-device audio system combining loudspeakers and earbuds, and an experience based on that system, were created and demonstrated. The design dimensions were found to be useful for understanding multi-device audio experiences and for quickly forming new ideas. In addition, the dimensions were a helpful reference during experience development for testing different design choices, particularly for audio allocation.

AB - Designing audio experiences for heterogeneous arrays of multiple devices is challenging, and researchers have tried to identify useful design practices. A set of design dimensions have been proposed, providing researchers and creative practitioners with a framework for understanding the different design considerations for multi-device audio; however, they have yet to be used for scoping and developing a new experience. This work investigates the utility of the design dimensions for exploring and prototyping new multi-device audio experiences. Three workshops were conducted with audio professionals to see how the design dimensions could be used to form new ideas. Using the resulting ideas, a multi-device audio system combining loudspeakers and earbuds, and an experience based on that system, were created and demonstrated. The design dimensions were found to be useful for understanding multi-device audio experiences and for quickly forming new ideas. In addition, the dimensions were a helpful reference during experience development for testing different design choices, particularly for audio allocation.

KW - audio

KW - design

KW - experience

KW - hearables

KW - idea generation

KW - multi-device

KW - prototyping

KW - workshops

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85175398316&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1145/3616195.3616199

DO - 10.1145/3616195.3616199

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85175398316

T3 - ACM International Conference Proceeding Series

SP - 71

EP - 78

BT - Proceedings of the 18th International Audio Mostly Conference, AM 2023

PB - Association for Computing Machinery, Inc

T2 - 18th International Audio Mostly Conference, AM 2023

Y2 - 30 August 2023 through 1 September 2023

ER -